


Different (Is Not A Sin)

by incorrectbatfam



Series: Bluepulse Week 2020 [1]
Category: DCU (Comics), Shazam! | Captain Marvel (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Bluepulse Week 2020, Established Relationship, Gen, M/M, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24853753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incorrectbatfam/pseuds/incorrectbatfam
Summary: Bart and Jaime’s trip to Fawcett City goes awry when Thaddeus Sivana unleashes the Seven Deadly Sins once again.(Bluepulse Week 2020 – Day 1: Seven Deadly Sins)
Relationships: Bart Allen/Jaime Reyes, Billy Batson & Freddy Freeman
Series: Bluepulse Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1798045
Comments: 3
Kudos: 40





	Different (Is Not A Sin)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm definitely screwing with canon here by combining the comic Shazam location, movie Shazam characters, comic Bart Allen, and Young Justice TV Bluepulse. 
> 
> Also, Bart and Jaime are adults while Billy and Freddy are still teenagers for this story.

Under his multiple jackets and countless inner layers, Jaime shivered like a leaf in a storm. Snow fell on the Minnesota fairgrounds in feather-like flakes, adding to the already thick blankets on the cobblestone in a way he’d never seen before in El Paso. It gave Jaime more of an excuse to hold his fiancé closer because the speedster’s warmth was like no other.

His teeth chattered as he asked, “H-how a-a-are y-you n-not f-f-freezing, _c-cariño_?”

Bart, who was fully content enjoying his popsicle, replied, “Most people don’t grow up in a sweaty Southern armpit, babe. You’re the only one here who hasn’t seen snow– _aah_.”

Jaime turned his head toward the speedster, only to burst out laughing when he was met with the sight of the younger man’s tongue stuck to the ice pop. 

“Blue, quith la-hing anth help me!” Bart cried.

“Wait, wait, hang on.” Jaime whipped out his phone and snapped a quick photo. “Alright, now where did I put that water?”

Just as Jaime began digging through his bag, he was stopped by Bart frantically tapping his shoulder. The speedster, like the other civilians around them, pointed to a bald man floating in mid-air. A trenchcoat billowed behind him as he took off his sunglasses. A few civilians trained their phones and cameras on him. Upon seeing the man’s glowing white eye and the lightning sparking from his palms, Jaime grabbed Bart’s hand, ready to make a break for it.

Looming above the crowd like a shadow, the man cleared his throat.

“Citizens of Fawcett City,” he said, “you may have recognized me from years past. My name is Doctor Thaddeus Sivana. I have returned in search of a magical staff belonging to this town’s resident wizard and superhero.”

He turned to face one of the cameras. “Whoever possesses the magic, I will give you one hour to hand it over before my Seven Deadly Sins rip this place and everyone in it apart.”

Dr. Sivana waved his hand and six grotesque, gargoyle-like creatures dropped onto the ground, sending people fleeing every which way. Bart and Jaime dove behind a prize counter, narrowly avoiding one of the Sins.

Bart took off his glove, revealing two rings on the same hand. He hovered over the Flash ring on his middle finger when a small whimper caught his attention. The two men turned their attention to the source.

Huddled in the corner all alone was a little girl no older than ten. Bart peered above the counter, wondering if her parents were close by. Seeing no one, he approached her, speaking soothingly.

“Hey there,” he said. “Are you okay? Where are your parents?”

The girl shook her head, whispering, “I-I don’t know. I’m scared.”

Bart glanced at Jaime, who plucked a teddy bear off the shelf and tossed it to him. 

The speedster handed it to the girl, saying, “Don’t move. You’ll be safe here. Your parents will find you once this is over.”

She nodded, clutching the plush close to her.

“And,” Bart added, “you can keep that if you don’t tell anyone about this.”

He opened the ring that held his costume. In a flurry of red, like a crimson tornado, Bart changed out of his winter clothes into the spandex of his hero costume. At the same time, blue armor wrapped around Jaime’s body and wings extended from his back. The child stared in awe, wide-eyed. She mimed zipping her lips. With one last thumbs-up from each of them, Bart and Jaime made their way towards the chaos.

Bart turned on his comm the moment he and Jaime split up—the speedster taking things on the ground while Blue Beetle surveyed from above. The redhead watched as Dr. Sivana shot another bolt of lightning from his fingers, striking a nearby wall.

“Careful, Blue,” Bart said into his earpiece. “Try not to get too close. Pretty sure this guy’s magic.”

“Roger that, Flash.”

From above, Jaime spotted two of the Sins cornering a family against a truck. He circled the creatures like an eagle, pointing a sonic cannon. He narrowly avoided their claws as they slashed at him. 

One of them, Pride, with bat-like wings and leathery blood-red skin, launched itself at Jaime. Its talons snagged the corner of the Beetle’s wing, scratching all the way down the metal. As much as Jaime tried to pull away, the magical demon-thingy was stronger, grabbing and slamming the man to the ground. He didn’t know if the resounding _crack_ was from the armor or one of his ribs.

The second one, Wrath, bright orange and built like a grizzly bear, charged. Jaime motioned to the family to run as he switched weapons. With a steady hand, he shot several staples at it, pinning the Sin to a nearby booth.

He sighed, relieved. “ _Eso debería sostenerlo._ ”

The orange one snarled as it brushed the staples off, like they were mosquitoes causing a nuisance.

“ _Habló demasiado pronto._ ”

While the scarab worked as fast as possible to repair the wing, Jaime summoned his most powerful plasma cannon and aimed.

Meanwhile, Bart learned the hard way that these brutes could phase in and out as easily as he did. If it weren’t for his super-speed, he wouldn’t have been able to dodge the one that shot a tentacle out of its mouth like a frog trying to catch its dinner. The speedster didn’t even want to know which sin that represented.

A different one—one with a mouth where its stomach was—launched itself at Bart.

He rolled to the side, gloating, “Nice try. Don’t you know I’m the fastest man alive?”

Suddenly, Pride swooped in from behind, claws digging through the costume and into Bart’s skin. The creature effortlessly flung him at the popcorn stand before he could even attempt to phase out of its grip. Glass shattered like a million crystals as his body crashed through. Bart’s saving grace was Jaime diving in before he could hit the ground at full force.

“ _Cariño_ , are you okay?” Jaime asked, voice dripping with concern.

Bart wiped the blood from a split lip as he pulled himself up, leaning against the Blue Beetle armor as he waited for the world to stop spinning. “I’m fine, I’m fine.”

The two backed up as the Sins closed in from all sides in a semicircle, slobbering like dogs with a ravenous blaze in their eyes. Bodies pressed against the wooden walls of a booth, the couple instinctively grabbed each other’s hands.

“Well, well, well,” a voice spoke. “I didn’t expect visitors, let alone the Justice League’s finest power duo.”

Sivana chuckled as he hovered above the fight line. 

“Wouldn’t it be bittersweet,” he said, “if a small-timer like me took out someone from the big leagues?”

“Nice try,” said Bart. “It’s gonna take more than that to beat the Flash and Blue Beetle.”

The villain ignored the speedster. “Speaking of which, where are your reinforcements? Where is Superman? Or that other guy, what’s his name–”

_“SHAZAM!”_

A white-hot lightning bolt struck down like a hammer, knocking Sivana to the ground and sending the Sins fleeing every which way. Sivana quickly recalled them and they disappeared into mist as they returned to their home in his eyeball.

A man in a red suit with a white cape stumbled from the smoke, coughing into his elbow.

“Jeez,” he said, fanning the smoke away with his hand. “I gotta figure out that smoke thing. The fog entrance is cool but _this_ ,” he coughed again before clearing his throat, gesturing around him, “is not.”

A different person—one in a cerulean suit—joined, adding, “That wizard should’ve left an instruction manual.”

“Enough!” Sivana barked, interrupting the two. “Billy Batson, hand over the wizard’s staff and I will let you off easy.”

“Hm…” said Billy. “How about no? It’s been a while since we had a good fight.”

The villain snapped his fingers and five of the seven sins rematerialized, standing behind him like troops for a lost cause. Bart glanced at Jaime who glanced at Freddy who glanced at Billy who sent them all a subtle nod.

Then all hell broke loose.

The first to act, Bart unlaced his fingers from his fiancé’s and body-slammed into the tentacle-tongue-demon, sending it skidding several feet. Jaime, with wings now fully repaired, took to the air, blasting Sins left and right with a plasma cannon as Khaji Da cheered on. The two worked in tandem; Bart speed-punched and incapacitated the creatures, making way for Jaime to lock and load and hone in with damaging plasma cannon blasts.

Also in the air, Freddy pushed back against the winged Pride with bare hands. They fought back and forth like a mid-air wrestling match. With a final burst, the hero hurtled the Sin straight into an empty Ferris Wheel. 

Billy went straight for Sivana, exiting the fairgrounds and following the man to the roof of a nearby high-rise. Bart followed them with his eyes for a second before tapping his comms.

“I gotta help Shazam,” the redhead said. “Sivana’s still got two sins on him.”

“ _Ese_ , I can fly there,” Jaime replied. “Let me go.”

“No,” Bart said, making it abundantly clear in his voice that he was not going to change his mind. “Your armor is susceptible to magic. You stay here with Junior.”

“Hey!” Freddy exclaimed indignantly. “Who are you calling ‘Junior’?”

But Bart was already off.

Thaddeus Sivana wasn’t alone. On his right hand, Sloth waited at his beck and call. To the left and hiding behind, almost as if ashamed, was scrawny little Envy. Bart ducked behind an electrical box as he listened to Billy and Sivana speak.

“You don’t have to do this,” Billy said, firm but imploring. “Remember what happened last time you went power-crazy with that orb?”

“If I recall correctly, I almost defeated you,” said the villain. “I would’ve if it weren’t for you and your pesky siblings.”

“Yeah, well, in case you haven’t noticed, I have two other Justice League members here. Once we take down your Sins, you’ll be outnumbered, so I’d surrender now if I were you.”

Sivana pursed his lips for a moment, as if thinking. “How about… no.”

On cue, the two Sins lunged at Billy.

“Watch out!” 

Bart tackled Billy to the side. Sloth and Envy skidded to a stop at the edge of the gravel rooftop. They turned back to the heroes, teeth bared.

Despite being older, Bart turned to Billy and asked, “What’s the plan?”

The two Sins began to charge.

Billy replied, “Uh… run around, lead them on a goose chase. I’ll take Sivana.”

“Crash, my specialty. Though I swear, every Thad I meet is kind of a jerk.”

The speedster zoomed in circles around the rooftop, hollering at the top of his lungs to get the creatures’ attention. The Sins were fast, but Bart Allen was still faster. 

He spun on his heel and with the momentum, rebounded off of Sloth’s back, sending the Sin tumbling over the precipice.

“One down, one to go,” Bart said. 

A gust of wind brushed past and it felt like someone poked his knee with a needle. Bart bent down to touch it. When he drew his hand back, red that was darker than his costume stained his fingertips and spread down the rest of his leg. Perhaps it was shock or adrenaline, but he couldn’t feel a thing. Envy rejoined Sivana back inside the eye.

“One down, one to go,” the villain mocked. 

“Why are you doing this?” Bart asked, staggering on his uninjured leg. “What is there to gain?”

Billy sent the speedster a glance like, _“Good job, get him to monologue.”_

“Why am I doing this?” Sivana replied. “For far too long, I’ve been singled out as the odd one out—the weakling, the runt of the litter.”

He walked over to the edge where Bart was. “But no more. With the staff of power, I will stand out in the greatest way possible. Unfortunately, you won’t see it.”

Sivana reached out and tapped the speedster and he fell backward.

Bart tried to grab onto something, to find his bearings, but his fingers only barely brushed the concrete ledge as he plummeted through the air.

“Oh man, Jaime is so gonna kill me for this,” he said to himself as he watched the ground come closer into view.

Just before Bart hit the bottom, something knocked the wind out of him and suddenly he was flying horizontally.

“ _Díos mio_ , you can’t go one week without giving me a heart attack, can you?”

Bart wrapped his arms around armored shoulders. “I like to keep things interesting.”

They landed on another rooftop. Jaime gently set Bart down, using a crate as a bench. From afar, the two men could see Billy take on Sivana in a flurry of flying fists and lightning fury. Jaime focused his attention on Bart.

As soon as the older man placed a hand on Bart’s injured knee, the latter winced and bit his tongue to keep from screaming. The pain had finally set in; tears welled in his eyes as blood ran trickled from three gashes so deep that they could see the metal of Bart’s prosthetic knee. Jaime cursed while a tendril with a bandage extended from his back.

Several minutes passed as Jaime patched Bart up while making casual conversation.

“...And that’s why I think we should repaint the walls green,” Bart finished just as Jaime tightened the cloth bandage.

Jaime chuckled. “For the hundredth time, we’re not painting the walls green.”

His thumb traced the younger one’s cheekbone. 

“When we’re married, you gotta promise not to scare me like that again, _mi amor_.”

“Didn’t you say the fact that I keep you on your toes is the reason you’re marrying me in the first place?” Bart teased.

Just before their lips touched, someone else joined them on the rooftop. 

They pulled away as a bolt of lightning struck through with a loud, “SHAZAM!”

Bart jumped up all too eagerly. Pain shot up his leg and he stumbled. Jaime quickly caught him and sat him back down on the makeshift seat.

“How’d it go? Where’s Dr. Sivana?” Bart asked, trying to readjust his bandages.

“It’s fine, cops are taking him in,” Billy answered, though he appeared distracted. “Where’s Freddy? I haven’t seen him since we transformed.”

“I dunno,” the speedster replied. “Blue, weren’t you with Junior?”

“I was until you decided to fall off a building, _tonto_ ,” Jaime said. He extended his wings. “I’ll go find him. Billy, you help Flash with…” he gestured at the bandages, which were all askew from the previous movement. 

Jaime took to the now-orange sky, scanning the city as the first street lamps flickered on. It wasn’t long before he found him, still in costume, sitting on top of a billboard advertising beauty products. Even from afar, Jaime could sense the longing, resentment, and confusion.

He carefully landed next to Freddy, who was still in his hero form. Jaime retracted the armor down to his neck.

“ _Hola_ ,” he said. “What are you doing up here all by yourself?”

The other hero shrugged. 

Jaime scooted a few inches closer. “Talk to me, _ese_.”

Freddy said, “I don’t wanna change back.”

Jaime’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

The younger one fiddled with the corner of his cape. Below, cars crawled through traffic like a line of ants, the honking but a faint sound from up high. Inside the buildings and houses, people turned their lights on as fathers returned from long days of work and night shift employees punched in. A wintry breeze blew past both heroes’ bodies. Jaime shivered slightly under the armor; Freddy didn’t.

The latter spoke. “It’s just that… it’s been forever since I got to fight, you know? Normally Billy’s off doing his own thing and he leaves everyone behind. I’m always stuck being Freddy Freeman, the disabled kid who can hardly walk. But as this,” he gestured to himself, “I can do whatever I want. I can fly; I can be a hero. I don’t have to be the odd one out who’s left out of everything.”

Jaime placed a tentative hand on Freddy’s shoulder.

“I… I don’t really know what to say to that, if I’m being honest,” he said.

“You don’t have to,” Freddy said. “I can just stay a hero forever, even if people like you and your boyfriend call me ‘Junior’. Plus, this way I’m old enough to get into clubs.”

“Fiancé,” Jaime corrected with a chuckle. “And as great as that probably sounds now, you’re gonna have to change back sooner or later.” His expressions softened to a more serious one. “I might not understand what you’re going through, but I think I know someone who might.”

A few minutes later, Jaime and an adult hero Freddy landed on the rooftop, where a regular teenage Billy was helping Bart with the knee.

“I think I did it right, but, like, I’m totally blanking out on Batman’s lessons right now,” Billy said.

“You did good, kid,” Jaime said before turning to Bart. “ _Cariño_ , I think there’s someone who could use some of your advice.” 

He nudged Freddy forward. Bart smiled and patted the seat next to him. Jaime and Billy backed away to give the two some space.

“What’s up, Junior?” the speedster asked.

Freddy hesitated. “Have you ever… felt like you didn’t fit in? Like you were… inferior?”

Bart tilted his head. “What brought this on?”

The younger hero shrugged. 

“I dunno,” he replied. “Maybe it’s being a hero for the first time in forever. It’s exhilarating. I don’t want it to stop, not when I have to go back to being…”

“What’s wrong with being a regular person?” Bart asked. 

Freddy drew a knee up to his chest and rested his chin on it. He glanced down at the gravel, counting the individual pebbles as he blinked back the tears.

“Kids at school call me a cripple. Deformed. A freak,” he spat, voice wavering. “I don’t wanna go back to that when I could be saving the world instead.” He sniffled and sighed. “Never mind, you wouldn’t get it.”

Bart scooted closer and placed a brotherly arm around the other hero. 

“I know my experience isn’t the same as yours,” the speedster said, “but I’ve had my share.” He gestured to the bandaged knee. “Deathstroke kneecapped me back when I was a Teen Titan and I had to get a prosthetic replacement. Even with speedster healing, it took forever for things to get back to half-normal.”

“But you can run,” Freddy pointed out.

“Again, that’s the whole metahuman thing that I won’t get into. I can’t run as fast as I used to and some days it still hurts, even after all these years. Everyone either looked at me with pity or thought that I wouldn’t be as useful as I was before.”

Freddy placed his chin in his hands. “I’m tired of being different. Folks always look at me like… like I’m some sort of bad thing, you know?”

“Dude,” Bart said. “We just fought the Seven Deadly Sins, and in case you haven’t noticed, being different was not one of them.”

The speedster shifted so he was sitting cross-legged, looking straight at Freddy.

“The world is always gonna look for a superficial reason to hate you, but you are so much more than that. You’re _you_. You’re smart and you’re funny and you are loved by those who matter. Other people’s perception of you is not your responsibility.”

Freddy sniffed and dried his eyes, and with a soft smile he said, “So basically you’re saying everyone can go f–”

Bart laughed. “Yeah, sure, that’s one way to put it.”

Freddy glanced at where Jaime and Billy awkwardly stood. 

“The Flash is right,” Billy said. “You’re my brother. I wouldn’t take you any other way.”

“Thanks, guys,” Freddy said.

The other three watched, waiting for Freddy to say the word to switch back. He looked back at them, arms crossed.

“Uh, do you mind?” he asked. “I’m changing here.”


End file.
